


Every Cloak Has It's Weakness

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 11:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4261716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The weather picked up, tree branches whipping around violently. Red found it unnerving and tried to tell herself it was nothing but a storm, even if it had come in so suddenly and was so strangely cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Cloak Has It's Weakness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gehayi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gehayi/gifts).



The older Red got the more grateful she became towards her grandmother for giving her that cloak as a child. It had protected her not only from those wolves but from other threats and dangerous situations as well.

It grew with her as she aged as Grandmother said it would and continued to protect her from everything, including rain and potential unknown threats. There were rumors of something coming across the lands but nothing was concrete at this point.

She was headed home, cloak drawn tightly around her body. The wind had picked up and was starting to become unbearable. When a particular gust nearly knocked Red off her feet, she clutched the basket of food to her chest.

Some of the food in the basket was delicious sweet bread from the baker. Red knew her grandmother and mother loved the bread from the local baker and would be sad if it blew away or was thrown to the ground. It might be cold by the time she returned to the house but they would appreciate it, nonetheless.

The house coming into Red’s view brought on a loud sigh of relief. She rushed towards the door, knocking loudly. They always locked the door when they went out and Red had forgotten her keys in her haste to leave. “Grandmother it’s me!”

For the past two years, Grandmother had been living with them after her health took a turn for the worse. She was still sickly but being around family seemed to lift her spirits. The door opened after a moment and Grandmother’s grey-haired head came into view.

“The weather looks terrible out there,” her grandmother muttered as she ushered her inside. “I hope your mother gets home from work soon. It looks like it will storm something terrible.”

Red smiled softly and held up the basket. “We have fresh sweet bread from the baker. Would you like some, Grandmother?”

“What sort of nonsense are you speaking child?” Grandmother looked positively appalled at the question. “Of course I do!”

“I’ll go get us some then.”

Giggling to herself, Red moved towards the kitchen and readied the bread to be eaten as a pre-dinner snack. It was at that time her mother arrived. Red heard the front door slam from the kitchen and hurried out into the front hall to greet her. 

Her mother looked disheveled and cold. She shivered as she took off her coat. “The wind has picked up terribly out there. Was it like that when you were out, Red?”

Red embraced her. “It wasn’t as bad as it is now. I feel for anyone who is still out in that - it’s terrible.”

“Unnatural is what it is,” Grandmother muttered.

“Mother, it is not unnatural. No weather is unnatural.”

An argument was sure to form between grandmother and mother so Red dismissed herself quietly and moved back towards the kitchen. She wanted to avoid listening to any argument-- no matter how silly or mundane it might be.

The weather picked up, tree branches whipping around violently. Red found it unnerving and tried to tell herself it was nothing but a storm, even if it had come in so suddenly and was so strangely cold.

“Would you like some sweet bread, Mother?” Red called from the kitchen.

That put off the argument instantly. Her family had quite the sweet tooth.

~*~

The storm blew itself out and disappeared in time for them to watch the setting sun. By morning, there was no trace or hint of cold nor anything to imply there was a severe storm the previous day. It seemed to be a perfectly normal summer morning.

Red left early that morning. She intended to do some more shopping at the market but not before going on a short walk around town first. The woods that surrounded their small village never held any fear for Red despite the incident with the wolf years earlier .

They had survived and it was all that mattered.

It was towards the end of Red’s walk when the winds picked up and the sky darkened again. She paused, clutching her cloak tightly around her body again. There was a strange feeling in the air. Red had to stop and catch her breath even though she’d only been strolling. Nervously, she looked over her shoulder.

In the distance, someone was staggering forward. They were far enough away where Red couldn’t make out any features but their gait was very unsteady. Her first thought was that they were injured.

“Are you hurt?” Red called out. “If you are I can help! I’ve tended to many wounds.”

The person let out a strange moaning sound. It confirmed in Red’s mind that they were indeed injured and needed help.

She rushed back towards the person but stopped when they were only feet apart. Now that she was closer, Red could see that their skin was a sickly color and covered with wounds. It seemed impossible that they were alive-- yet here they were.

“What happened to you?” 

Red jerked back when they lashed out. They moaned again, never answering her question. It became clear that something wasn’t right with this person. She backed up slowly and turned just in time to avoid getting scratch by their unnaturally long nails.

It would’ve been helpful if Red had noticed it before.

The cloak wasn’t damaged in the attack. Red didn’t know what they were afflicted with but if she had been scratched, she felt it wouldn’t be in her favor. Her knife wasn’t with her which meant Red only had one choice: run.

The person struggled to catch her but Red was faster. She ran back towards the village and her home where her grandmother was resting in her chair in the living room.

Grandmother woke up as Red was struggling to catch her breath.

“Red, you look like you’ve run a marathon! What on earth is wrong?”

“I don’t quite understand what happened,” Red said between big gulps of air.

“Sit down and breathe, dear.” Grandmother forced her to sit down, gently rubbing her back. “Once you’ve caught your breath tell me what happened.”

Red took some time to answer because coming up with an explanation was more difficult than she expected it would be. “I thought I saw someone who was injured but I saw their body was covered in terrible wounds. They couldn’t speak-- actually I don’t recall them forming words. Oh, Grandmother and the smell!”

“How bad was it?” Grandmother asked. Her face was suddenly very hard.

“I felt the urge to throw up, Grandmother.”

She nodded. “Did they hurt you?”

“They only caught the edge of my cloak.” Red smiled up at her grandmother, silently thanking her for making the cloak. It had once again protected her. “Do you know what I saw? I don’t understand how someone could live with that many wounds.”

Grandmother furrowed her brow for a moment and looked away. Then, after a few seconds, she looked back at Red. Her expression looked grim and implied what would be said next wasn’t going to be good.

“Grandmother, what is it?”

“It sounds like some form of necromancy, raising the dead through magical means.” She paused a moment, as if to think. “This could explain the strange weather over the past few days,” Grandmother muttered.

Red frowned. “What does the weather have to do with it?”

“Fate doesn’t particularly like those who go against the rules of life and death so brazenly - well either that or it’s just a side effect of the spell the necromancer cast.”

“Magic is confusing, Grandmother.”

She sighed. “It is, Red, but that isn’t the most concerning thing. We must find this creature you found and destroy it, for it may spread.”

“What do you mean spread?”

“Think of it as a virus. If bitten or scratched by this creature then the virus will spread.” Grandmother shook her head.

Red bit her lip, feeling the need to ask something. She furrowed her brows and released her lip. “How do you know all this?”

Grandmother looked shocked at her question. “Oh Red, I might have flunked out of magic school but I am still very aware of magical history! Something similar happened hundreds of years ago but the threat was eradicated quickly because of how prevalent magic was in our society. Now, magic has all but faded from our daily lives.”

Under her breath, Grandmother started complaining about how magic was nothing more than a gimmick now. Red understood the anger - or at least tried too. Times had changed and her grandmother wanted things to be like they were in the past.

If only it were that easy.

“I have the knife you gave me for my birthday this year,” she said, hoping to be helpful. Then she thought better of it. “Or should I use the arrows Mother gave me?” Red asked seriously.

“Get the arrows. You want to be able to attack from a distance. But just because you kill this one doesn’t mean the threat has ended. We don’t know where it came from or how far this disease has spread,” Grandmother explained in a somber voice.

In the end, Grandmother was right. They successfully killed that individual with Red’s magic arrows, and lived peacefully for a few weeks. But after that more came.

Red had a feeling her cape wouldn’t save her this time.


End file.
